I wrote an article for Zocalo Public Square on my art and my path as an artist.

In it, I wrote about when I first moved to L.A. how I lived in a run down, Spanish style duplex in West Hollywood. This was in 1999 before the Grove, before all the paparazzi started watching the fancy stores on Robertson. There weren’t even that many fancy places on Robertson then, There was a used bookstore on Beverly near Robertson and a thrift shop on Santa Monica and Robertson.

Last week, I drove by my old place and to my (not really) surprise, it had been torn down! In it’s place was a giant (to the limit of what’s allowed, I’m sure) concrete and wood mansion. It was so new that the construction fence was still around it. There are four similar homes on the street. They are totally out of proportion to the neighborhood.

Now that I’ve been in L.A. for 15 years I do not expect a respect for the charming architecture of the past but it’s still sad to see these behemoths that belong more in the hills of Orange County than they do on the streets of Los Angeles.